Searchrider, Oh Searchrider
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Avery, Corrin, Duskdog
Date Posted: 30th May 2024
Characters: R'bain, H'taysh, Riveenata
Description: Some young construction workers try to get Searched
Location: Barrier Lake Weyr
Date: month 11, day 1 of Turn 11
Notes: Mentioned: Kapera, Aydhan
Rabain and his friends were on a mission. Work on the weyrhold was starting to wind down. Soon they and all the other workers would be back to hold and hall and their regular lives, but before they left, wouldn’t it be grand if they Stood on the hatching sands? Saw the baby dragons up close? Ever since word got around about Arlin and Lenorin being Searched, the possibility loomed large in Rabain’s mind. They just needed a searchrider who would approve them… all five of them.
A little asking around got them pointed toward a searchrider and dragon pair that had the misfortune of being settled in the weyrbowl just then. What followed next was almost comical: the young men filed past the unsuspecting dragon, strutting, flexing, swaggering. One bowed. Rabain, who had gone first, stopped a little ways away to stare eagerly at the green for any reaction.
Haysh tried to look confident as he sauntered by, tried to keep his flexing subtle, but he was _definitely_ flexing. Greens were girls, and girls loved a big strong man, right? All the dragonriders were so strong and healthy, too -- certainly moreso than a lot of the holdfolk he’d grown up with -- so maybe that’s part of what attracted a dragon?
He stopped next to Rabain, elbowing him. “Do you think she noticed?” he whispered. Loudly.
"She's gotta have," Rabain 'whispered' back, even though he thought it was hard to tell where those facets were focused.
"Look!" yelped Arnard. "Her eyes are changing color!"
With free time available to her, and the weather being lovely, Riveenata had decided to spend the time with just herself and Savith - no boys allowed. (By which she meant the Complicating men in her life.) So she'd bathed Savith and freshly oiled her, and then the green settled into a nice sunny spot, while Riveenata set down a blanket to sit on and had some hides in hand to do some Healer catch-up. She was so focused on her hides that she never noticed the men approaching.
Savith was relaxed in the warm sun, appreciating the fresh oil that her rider had applied, and hoping to attract the attention of male dragons. (A part of her knew that soon she'd be challenging them to fly her, and that she wanted to attract the best, and thus she should be attractive now.)
But rather than attracting dragon male attention, she'd attracted some humans. The first one walking by her was boring - just another person passing. But then a second went by, and a third, and one bowed. Interesting! Her eyes had been a nice placid blue-green as she half-dozed, but now they started shifting to green-yellow - intrigue, but no alarm.
}:There are people walking in front of me,:{ she told her rider. }:They seem very focused.:{
Riveenata set down her hides and stood up, walking around the other side of Savith. She saw a collection of young men all looking at Savith. She waved a hand at them. "Can we help you?"
“Is she impressed?” Rabain asked at once, his focus snapping from the dragon to rider. He had never stood for a Search before, his work had kept him from that. He didn't know how these things went, or what the terms were. "We've got what it takes, you know. Same as Lenorin." He nudged his buddies to back him up.
"Yeah!"
"I'm way stronger than Arlin."
Haysh stood taller, puffing his chest out. "I'd look great in riding leathers! I can catch firestone sacks! And, uh... I'd probably be good at scrubbing a dragon. Gotta take tender loving care, right? Bathing and oiling?" He didn't know _everything_ involved in caring for a dragon, but he'd seen plenty of them getting baths in his time at Barrier Lake. "_I_ can be a lover _and_ a fighter. Threadfighter."
He laughed with genuine mirth at his own lame joke, but the sound itself was a trifle awkward, something between a guffaw and a 'hyuck'.
"It's a pity I've bathed her, then, she could use the help. Want to come back in four days?" she joked.
Riveenata found herself charmed by how they seemed so excited about interacting with Savith. She could tell them the truth, but... why not have some fun?
**Go on, give them a sniff, make them happy.**
"Well, Savith, are you impressed?" she asked aloud.
Savith stretched out her neck, and looked each person one at a time.
One at a time.
The boys didn't have much patience for that. They jockeyed in front of the green like their lives depended on it. Preening, posing and generally getting in each other's way.
}:There are bright sparks, but there are many. I cannot tell who, except for that one.:{ Savith huffed a big blast of slightly meat-scented air out at them, and indicated one boy at the end.
Well, that ruled in one, but it didn't rule the rest out. Riveenata let the anticipation draw out, just to see how the boys would react... then took pity on them.
"Well, Savith thinks you're a nice confusing pile of boys. I have a surprise to tell you all. Did you know that you can just go to the goldriders and ask to Stand?"
Brylon, on the end, yelped as the huff of air hit. He was saved from the enthusiasm and questions and jealousy of his friends by Riveenata's surprising disclosure.
"What?" Rabain was flabbergasted. That wasn't how it happened in ballads. "We can just walk up to one of the lady goldriders and ask? Do they have Search powers too or something?"
"Ooh, I'll bet they have something even better," Haysh speculated. "_Authority_. So we just need to go impress a goldrider enough for her to say yes? Do you think flexing would help?"
"Is flexing your answer for _everything_?" the greenrider asked with great curiosity. "They don't have Search powers, that's for us blues and greens. What they do have is authority over who Candidates are, and some of them decide to take anyone who ask, to give the eggs the biggest choices."
Haysh considered. "Well, not for _everything_. But I figured dragonriders are supposed to be strong, so it oughtta get us some points with whoever's picking us out -- dragon or goldrider. Also, it works on some girls? Not a lot. Actually it hasn't worked yet. Huh. But someday it probably will! Maybe we'll just ask a goldrider, and I can keep the flexing in my back pocket just in case she's on the fence and needs a little help deciding. I hope she'll really just take anybody, though. Then this guy is allowed in, too, even though he's not as manly as me." He elbowed Rabain playfully.
Riveenata couldn't keep her laughter in any longer. "Well, best of luck with that, for all of you. I can't wait to see what Kapera - or Aydhan - thinks of you all."
Last updated on the June 1st 2024